Domestic mutual funds were making their moves as Adani group stocks were being hammered after a report by American short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the ports-to-power conglomerate of stock manipulation and also flagged debt concerns.
The group denied the charges but it did little to stem the haemorrhaging, which has halved the market capitalisation of several of the Adani companies since the report was released on January 24.
Despite the huge selloff in Adani companies, mutual funds plucked shares worth hundreds of crores in Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd and ACC Ltd.
They net bought shares worth Rs 444.10 crore in Adani Ports and SEZ and Rs 203.17 in ACC Ltd.
Mutual funds net sold shares worth Rs 548.27 crore in the Adani flagship company Adani Enterprises, which saw its shares drop to Rs 1,017.45 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on February 3 from an all-time high of Rs 4,190 in December 2022.
One of the stocks from Adani stable, Ambuja Cement, saw a net sale of Rs 441.45 crore by the fund houses, as per the Prime Database.
Ambuja Cement was acquired by the Adani Group in September 2022 from Switzerland’s Holcim Group for $6.4 billion.
Besides dabbling in Adani companies, mutual funds largely stuck to blue-chip financial services companies in January.
They net bought shares worth Rs 4,298 crore in ICICI Bank Ltd, Rs 2,022 crore in Kotak Mahindra Bank, Rs 972.85 in Axis Bank, Rs 604.82 crore in HDFC Ltd and Rs 545.50 crore in Bajaj Finance.
In the aftermath of the Hindenburg report, the Ahmedabad-based Adani Group called off a Rs 20,000-crore follow-on public offer after it was successfully completed to avoid mark-to-market losses to its investors.
The biggest loser since the Hindenburg report has been Adani Green Energy (down 73 percent), Adani Transmission (down 70 percent), and Adani Total Gas (down 67 percent).
Shares of Adani Ports and ACC have recovered sharply from their recent lows and are currently trading at Rs 574 and Rs 1,857 apiece, respectively, on NSE. ACC has shown strong resilience in the face of the Hindenburg onslaught as the Street expects it to be a value pick.
Also Read | A10 Sentimeter: Index of 10 Adani group stocks lost 60% in value after Hindenburg report
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